‘Arrow’: The Dark Archer Strikes

Only two episodes of Arrow left in what has been a wildly successful freshman season — both in terms of critical reception and audience ratings. The Undertaking — a plot by Malcolm Merlyn and several other rich businessmen in Starling City to destroy The Glades – is almost ready. A special destructive device made by Unidac Industries is on its way to the city. Meanwhile, our hero Oliver Queen/Arrow/The Hood, is closer than ever to figuring out what the evil cabal is up to. He has now learned not only that Merlyn is behind it, but also that his mother, Moira, is a part of the plot too.

The episode starts out with a bang! The Dark Archer, who is secretly Merlyn himself, bursts into Unidac’s laboratories. He calmly kills everyone there, including the leader of the project, Dr. Markov. He also destroys all the computers so there is no evidence of any connection between Unidac and Merlyn.

At the Arrow hideout, Digg and Felicity are reporting back about their surveillance of Moira. They have found nothing. Oliver seems down so Felicity asks if he feels ok. His answer sums up the season pretty nicely: “My mom and my best friend’s dad are involved in a conspiracy that may have dire consequences for the city and I am pretty sure they murdered my father. I’m not planning on using the word ‘ok’ again anytime soon.” Ha! Nice writing! Oliver says he needs to just ask his mother what is going on. He asked her once, as Arrow, but this time it is going to be a “friendly mother-son chat.”

Laurel comes to visit Oliver at the club. She’s been flummoxed ever since Oliver admitted he still had feelings for her. Oliver says he is sorry and he did not mean to mess up her life. She says that she still has feelings for him too. He tries to convince her he is not good for her and he walks away.

At the Queen Mansion, Walter is coming home after being rescued last week by Arrow. His time being held by kidnappers seems to have worn on him. He only want to rest. Meanwhile, Moira sees a news report on the murders at Unidac and is very flustered. Oliver wants to talk, but she races off, probably to go talk to Merlyn.

We get our first flashback to life on Oliver’s island, 5 years ago. Oliver, Slade, and Shado have all been captured by Xao-Fei and Edward Fyers and are brought to Fyers base camp. Fyers’ men are tracking a German airplane. They plan to shoot it down with the missiles on the island.

The police are investigating the Unidac murders. They know that the Dark Archer did it but they cannot figure out why.

Nearby, Oliver’s sister Thea is hanging out with her boyfriend Roy Harper. Roy desperately wants to find The Hood to thank him for saving Roy’s life. Comic book fans know that Roy is fated to become Arrow’s sidekick.

That night, at the Queen house, Oliver finally gets to talk to Moira. He asks who kidnapped Walter. Their conversation makes it clear that Oliver knows a lot more than Moira would like. She tells him he needs to stop asking questions. Just then, the lights go out and Olvier is struck with a dart in the neck. He is knocked out. Moira is hit too and passes out after seeing a hooded figure approaching. It looks like Merlyn’s Dark Archer.

Moira and Oliver come to in a large room, probably in a factory. They are tied up across from each other. The hooded figure utters the line that the real Hood has made famous, “Moira Queen, you have failed this city.”

We flash to the past on the island again. Fyers explains his plan. He explains that his employer wants to cripple the Chinese economy by shooting down any plane flying into or out of the country. He also wants to blame it all on Xao-Fei, who is a Chinese dissident. When Xao-Fei balks, Fyers hits Oliver with a gun and then shoots both Slade and Shado, though not fatally. He vows to kill everyone Xao-Fei cares about if Xao-Fei will not cooperate.

Thea goes to police headquarters where she overhears Det. Lance talking about the Unidac investigation. She hears that Unidac was making calls to someone at Merlyn Global. She tells Roy about it. They decide to go to Merlyn Global to investigate themselves.

The hooded figure wants Moira to tell him about The Undertaking. He begins beating on Oliver when she will not talk. She refuses to tell him anything. He hits Olvier again and Moira starts spilling the beans. She revels that Malcolm is planning to level the Glades with some device that can cause an earthquake. We finally see a bit of who the hooded figure is here and it is Digg, pretending to be Arrow. Moira reveals that she only got involved because her husband was involved first and she had no choice. Digg asks how they can stop Merlyn and Moira says, “It’s too late.” The hooded Digg cuts Oliver and Moira free and disappears. Moira tries to explain herself to Oliver, but he just walks away.

Back at the Arrow hideout, Felicity, Oliver, and Digg figure out that the Dark Archer works for Merlyn. Felicity starts hacking into Merlyn Global’s mainframe.

We return to the past. Xao-Fei agrees to Fyers plan to save his daughter and friends. He secretly passes a knife to Oliver. Outside, Fyers make a phone call to his employer to tell them that everything is going as planned. We don’t see the boss, but it looks like it is a woman.

In the present, Det. Lance is questioning an executive from Merlyn Global. It is Tommy. The conversation goes nowhere as Tommy knows nothing about the Unidac massacre. He leaves. Laurel shows up and tells her father that the reason she and Tommy broke up is that she and Oliver have feelings for each other again. Det. Lance admits that the present Oliver appears to be a better guy than the spoiled playboy who was lost for 5 years.

Felicity is frustrated in her failed attempts to get into the Merlyn mainframe. Oliver realizes the only way they can get the info they need is for him to break into Merlyn Global HQ, and bring Felicity with him.

Oliver gets in by making an appointment to visit Tommy. Felicity poses as a delivery person. Digg is in on it too, posing as a Merlyn security guard. He knocks out another guard, giving Oliver and Laurel the ability to secretly get to the 24th floor. They need to get to 25. They open the top of the elevator and climb out. In a scene straight out of Star Wars, Oliver plays Luke and Felicity plays Leia as they use a rope to swing across a gap, giving them access to floor 25 and the mainframe.

Oliver has to leave to keep his appointment with Tommy. Tommy is not happy to see him. Tommy still thinks Oliver is a murderer. Oliver tells Tommy that Tommy belongs with Laurel. Oliver says that his dangerous secret life as The Hood prevents him from being with Laurel and he thinks Tommy can make her happy. He says he knows Tommy still loves her.

Oliver leaves to head back to help out Felicity, who is running out of time as a guard approaches. But, before Oliver can help, he runs into Merlyn who agrees to escort Oliver down to the building lobby. Felicity is stuck and gets caught by a guard, but Digg manages to rescue her.

In the building lobby, Oliver runs into Thea and Roy. She admits that they are there looking for The Hood. Oliver is not pleased and tells Roy that anyone who messes with the Hood ends up dead. He makes it clear that Roy needs to abandon his quest.

Back at Roy’s house, Thea and Roy get in a fight. She doesn’t want to continue looking for the Hood. She threatens to leave him if he won’t give up his quest. He refuses and she storms out.

Speaking of break ups, Walter gives Moira divorce papers. She admits that she knew about the kidnapping but says it was to protect Walter. He does not believe her and leaves anyway.

At police HQ, a police hacker tells Det. Lance he was unable to hack into Merlyn’s computer. But, he found someone else trying to hack in while he was there. He tells the detective that Felicity Smoak is Queen consolidated is investigating the same thing they are.

Felicity is working on finding the earthquake device but there is a lot of Merlyn data to probe. Oliver realizes that everything he has been doing since he got back from the island was about stopping The Undertaking. He implies that once he stops it, he will hang up his Hood.

Oliver goes to visit Laurel. He admits that he may finally be ready to get back together with her. He says the “thing” that has been pulling him away is almost gone. They race into each other’s arms and begin tearing their clothes off. Outside the building, Tommy sees them through an open window. He does not look happy.

Later that night, Oliver and Laurel are lying in bed. Oliver gets a call from Digg. Felicity has located the earthquake device. Digg is going to go get it while Oliver is going to go get Merlyn.

One more island flashback. Xao-Fei is recording a statement taking responsibility for the downing of the German airplane. Olive is tied up but is secretly cutting his ropes with the knife. Fyers wants to tie up any loose ends, so he shoots Xao-Fei right between the eyes.

Back in the present, Arrow has broken in to Merlyn’s office. “The Undertaking,” he says, “It ends now.” Just then, Digg contacts Arrow and tells him that the intel on the device was bad. It is not where they thought. Arrow draws his bow and asks where the device is. Merlyn won’t tell him anything. Merlyn says the city needs to be cleansed. Arrow fires a bolt at him, but Merlyn catches it. They begin a hand-to-hand fight that is brutal and epic. Merlyn gets the upper hand and knocks Arrow out. He pulls back the hood and sees it is Oliver. “Oh no,” Merlyn says…

… and the episode ends!

WOW! Quite an exciting episode. Much is being resolved and everything is racing toward conclusion. Next week’s season finale should be a doozy! There is little question we will get an epic final battle between Merlyn/Dark Archer and Oliver/Arrow. I can’t wait! So, what did you think of this episode? Leave a comment below and we can all talk about it!

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